"Oh, PENrod!"

He negligently kicked a globe from the high chandelier, and, smiling
coldly, floated out through the hall to the front steps of the school,
while Marjorie followed, imploring him to grant her one kind look.

In the street an enormous crowd had gathered, headed by Miss Spence and
a brass band; and a cheer from a hundred thousand throats shook the
very ground as Penrod swam overhead. Marjorie knelt upon the steps
and watched adoringly while Penrod took the drum-major's baton and,
performing sinuous evolutions above the crowd, led the band. Then he
threw the baton so high that it disappeared from sight; but he went
swiftly after it, a double delight, for he had not only the delicious
sensation of rocketing safely up and up into the blue sky, but also
that of standing in the crowd below, watching and admiring himself as he
dwindled to a speck, disappeared and then, emerging from a cloud, came
speeding down, with the baton in his hand, to the level of the treetops,
where he beat time for the band and the vast throng and Marjorie Jones,
who all united in the "Star-spangled Banner" in honour of his aerial
achievements. It was a great moment.

It was a great moment, but something seemed to threaten it. The face
of Miss Spence looking up from the crowd grew too vivid--unpleasantly
vivid. She was beckoning him and shouting, "Come down, Penrod Schofield!
Penrod Schofield, come down here!"

He could hear her above the band and the singing of the multitude; she
seemed intent on spoiling everything. Marjorie Jones was weeping to
show how sorry she was that she had formerly slighted him, and throwing